Dreaded dacoit Jagjivan Parihar, five members of his gang and an aide were killed in a gun battle with the police in Gadhiya village near Morena in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday.

An inspector was also killed in the encounter. Five policemen were critically injured.

Officials said Parihar, who carried a reward of Rs 7.25 lakh on his head, was killed along with gang members Param Singh Parihar, Sanjiv alias Lalla Bhadoria, Ramlakhan Gadaria, Bhanwar Singh and Vishal Parihar in the 18-hour gun battle.

Their bodies were found in a house in the village, Superintendent of Police Hari Singh Yadav told PTI.

The body of the house's owner, Heera Singh Parihar, who was wearing a saree, was also found by police teams from Morena and Bhind.

The gang had used saree-clad Heera Singh as a shield to open fire at the police, killing Porsa station in-charge Virendra Bhadoria and injuring inspectors K D Sonakiya, Satish

An AK-47 rifle, a semi-automatic, a 303 and three Manchester (M-1) automatic rifles were recovered from the house.

Acting on a tip-off, police surrounded the house after vacating the village. Grenades and teargas shells were lobbed at the house before police teams barged in.

Madhya Pradesh Minister of State for Home Nagendra Singh told the assembly in Bhopal that the government will appoint slain cop Bhadoria's son as sub-Inspector. It will reward policemen involved in the operation.